A split on torture in Obama admin?

From NBC's Domenico MontanaroThough much of the focus is on the news being made at the State Department and the evident foreign policy shift from the previous administration to this one, there was also some news made on Capitol Hill at the hearing for Obama's pick to head national intelligence, Dennis Blair.

On the issue of torture, Blair would not go as far as Attorney General-designate Eric Holder. The AP reports that he "replied cautiously" when pressed about the issue.

"There will be no waterboarding on my watch," Blair did say. "There will be no torture on my watch."

But he refused to go as far as Holder, who at his confirmation hearing last week said flatly, "Waterboarding is torture," citing that he "did not want to jeopardize agents who thought they had legal approval," AP notes.

"Michigan Democratic Sen Carl Levin told Blair, 'If the attorney general designee can answer it, you can too,'" per AP.

"I don't mean to reopen those cases," Blair said of the CIA's admitted waterboarding of at least three detainees. "I'm hesitating to set a standard here."